Diarrhea that smells like an infection

[carey]

currently taking 60mg pred and remicade. for the last 2 weeks my stomach has been extending to a painful degree. i havent been able to eat without being in pain. ct scans show that there is no inflamation, but i have diarrhea that smells like infection. can anyone give me advice? the docs treat me like im just seeking pain pills, i cant seem to make them understand that i just want to eat. i have also lost about 10 pounds this week.

 

[ArmyWife]

Hi Carey!
I'm sorry you are feeling so sick
Did you get the CT at the hospital? Were you tested for anything else? Did they take any stool samples from you? The distended abdomen makes me concerned about an obstruction but as long as you are continuing to pass gas/stool and aren't continually vomiting you should be okay. I have had many partial obstructions and the pain is pretty severe. I was also violently vomiting and some inflammation did show on the CT. I'm sorry you are being treated that way, I know docs can sometimes make Crohn's patients feel like that. They don't understand how bad the pain really can be sometimes. Keep me posted on what happens and good luck.

Beth

 

[carey]

the ct was at the hospitol. they checked my blood but nothing else. im going back to the hospitol tomarrow. ill ask them to check everything. there has to be a reason for this. i know this isnt a typical flare for me.

 

[ArmyWife]

Also I asked about the testing of your stool because my first thought was C.diff. I see it a lot in older patients in the hospital but it causes severe diarrhea and has a very distinct and foul smell. Especially with you being on Remicade and your immune system being down you are at a higher risk of getting it. Anyway, just a thought that popped in my mind.

 

[carey]

i had that when i was hospitilized a year ago. very uncomfortable feeling when the docs and nurses come in covered in yellow gowns and masks! my poop smells the same as it did when they said i had an infection. which is what worries me. because the docs dont seem to be taking me seriously. im also getting really tired and feel dehydrated, uncommon for me. i typically only need 4 hours of sleep, now im tired all day.

 

[Lee]

I was just diagnosed with crohns this past month (I'm 30), but 5 years prior to that I was having major stress in my life (lost 20 lbs instead of the 13 I lost this time, I was having runny stool & a bit of abdominal pain). All of a sudden I was standing in my kitchen and I got the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life in my abdomen. I fell to the floor because the more I moved the worse the pain was. I THOUGHT I WAS DYING. I crawled on the floor until I got to the dresser my phone was on. I called my mother. She came over and we called the ambulance. As it turned out the CT scan machine was down so they just told me I had a bit of an ulcer, gave me the purple pill and sent me home once the pain died down. They just sent me home--no cramping meds or anything. I ended coming back in on an ambulance again later that night because the pain came back full force but worse than before. Then the emergency room doctor decided to give me a shot of Bentyl (generic-dicyclomine). It was a miracle--the pain instantly went away. They discharged me (said I had gastritis), gave me a script of Bentyl and told me to go to my family doctor. They said nothing to me about going to a GI doctor. My family doctor told me I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

So the point to my post is: You might want to ask your doctor for a cramping med like Bentyl (20 mg as needed for abdominal pain works wonders for me). It even helps me with pain when I passing stool. It's not a narcotic so they can give you refills---It works great (makes eating more enjoyable at times too)

 

[ArmyWife]

Oh yeah I would definitely be worried about that too! Just stay strong and keep fighting for yourself, don't let the docs make you feel like it isn't important or serious. I'm a nurse so I see how docs and nurses think on the other side and it's very easy to desensitize yourself to patient's problems. They don't know what we go through and that we know our bodies and we know when something is wrong!

For the past couple years, especially the past 6 months, I've been in the hospital several times for a partial bowel obstruction. The docs always tell me the CTs and xrays don't look that bad and sometimes make me feel like I am just being a baby. Then I had a colonoscopy to open the strictured areas that didn't look "that bad" on the CTs and the doc perforated my bowel! I had emergency surgery for the perf and while he was in there the surgeon had to take out a foot and a half of intestines.. he said my intestines were really bad and beyond repair from the crohn's and he couldn't believe I was living that way for so long. So don't give up! We know our bodies better than those docs.

 

[ArmyWife]

Lee..
Your story sounds just like mine! That happened to me for 4 years before I finally got someone to take me serious enough to test me for Crohn's. I got the gastritis and IBS diagnoses for a while as well. I've also taken Bentyl.. I agree it is a great drug! My doc gave me an anti-spasmodal drug similar to Bentyl that dissolves on my tongue so it works even quicker than the pill form. Definitely something to look into Carey!

 

[Lee]

ArmyWife- My mother was a nurse for over 40 yrs and she too says you become desensitized to peoples complaints of pain, etc. In fact my mother always said the people in the ER who aren't screaming with cries of pain are actually in the most pain...lol

Carey--you just have to find the right doctor with enough expertise in his field. I really lucked out this time when I went into the ER because I was blessed with a good doctor & the CT scan machine was up and running. I'm also lucky because I live 15mins from Philadelphia (where U-Penn, Jefferson & Temple University hospitals are). I had lots of great doctors to choose from.